Personal travel manager (PTM) Kerrin Poupos now earns over double what she earnt while working in a traditional travel agency. She’s also regularly smashing goals as a top seller and combining her work with travel.
The Victorian-based PTM made the decision to go out on her own so she could have a better work/life balance and spend more time with her kids and grandkids.
Since joining the TravelManagers team seven years ago she has been a Qantas Holidays Top Achiever six years in a row.
This has taken her to some incredible places, including a luxurious trip to Dubai last year.
She’s also been recognised as a Peregrine/Intrepid Top Seller, including snagging the top spot for personal travel manager sales in Australia 2019. This saw her awarded a magnificent 15-day Africa safari as well as another Intrepid Group award trip next May through Italy.
On top of this, Kerrin was a Top Achiever with the Globus Family of Brands last year.
So how does she achieve such success from her home-based business? We sat down for a chat with her to find out.
“I was already a top achiever before I went out on my own so it gave me that drive to want to get there again,” she said.
She said her success starts with being driven. Even though she works from home she tries to keep normal office hours to keep herself motivated and focused.
Next, she said, “it is so important to build a rapport with your chosen supplier.”
“Whilst we can work with a large range of suppliers through TravelManagers, I have my preferred ones and work on building a strong rapport between the two of us. I use them because I have faith in them,” she said.
And of course, building up a rapport with clients is vital as well.
“The majority of my clients are from word-of-mouth referrals,” she said.
“It is achievable to be a home-based top seller and a mobile agent. It’s just about focusing and wanting to strive for success”.
PTM Kerrin Poupos
She also credits her successful business to having great support from the business partnership managers at TravelManagers. “I ring them whenever I’m stuck. You know they’ve got your back” she said.
“I was affected a little bit with the Tempo/Bentours collapse but I had TravelManagers behind me 100% to support me and help reach a positive outcome for both my clients and my business”.
Another perk of being a home based Agent is that Kerrin gets the freedom and flexibility to take her reward trips.
For example, during her recent famil to Africa, she was able to work remotely in the mornings. She was also rewarded with free accommodation in Bali from Qantas Holidays recently, so she went and worked from there.
“When your clients see you’re there they think omg I want to go there too,” she explained.
“It also gives you the opportunity to gain better knowledge about all the places you sell”.
Becoming a personal travel manager has changed Kerrin’s life for the better and she says her only regret is that she didn’t do it sooner.